New Images & Official Synopsis For ‘Real Steel’

Published 4 years ago
by
Sandy Schaefer
, Updated February 15th, 2014 at 4:24 pm,

Hugh Jackman will find a new career as a trainer in the heavy-hitting sport of robot boxing in Real Steel, next year’s sci-fi drama from DreamWorks Studios. You can get an early look at the flick by checking out the new production stills and detailed plot description below.

A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near future [the year 2020], where the sport of boxing has gone hi-tech, “Real Steel” stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.

If you find the mechanized warrior in the picture above (a.k.a. Atom) to be an impressive piece of work, there’s a good reason for that – it’s real. While the dueling robot sequences utilize motion-capture animation based off actual human boxers (who themselves are getting help from the famous Sugar Ray Leonard), the Real Steel technical crew concocted nineteen life-sized animatronic metal bots for Jackman and his fellow performers to interact with.

The combination of actual props and digital effects was reportedly encouraged by executive producer Steven Spielberg and Levy wisely agreed with the notion. The mix of practical and CGI elements has worked best in the past (see Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films for the best example) and should lend Real Steel an air of authenticity and grittiness that it would otherwise lack, were all the effects to be done in post-production.

Take Levy’s comment to U.S. Today in consideration as well:

“There are some things only visual effects can pull off. But when you give an actor a real thing, in this case a real 8-foot-tall machine, to interact with and do dialogue opposite, you get a more grounded reality to the performance.”

Shawn Levy and Hugh Jackman

What do you think? Does Real Steel sound like a winner? Sound off in the comments section below.

a family movie about giant fighting robots??? please…..hugh jackman wants to make a name for himself, try getting some serious acting roles. not throw away movies like these. this sounds in all honesty like a joke movie. remember cuba gooding jr. he won and oscar and ended up doing third rate disney movies. is jackman headed that way as well??? why would an actor even consider this role???

I will go with Jackman’s selections. He is first and foremost a singer and dancer and belongs on Broadway. When he did that he got a Tony and later and Emmy for hosting the Tonys.. I think he is just having fun and not particularly worried about his “career”….

Well Richard Matheson is such a great author. I red I Am Legend before I saw the film and loved it. The I Am Legend film interpretation was effective because it captured the heart of the novel well, whilst still giving it a new direction visually and plotwise, which better suited the modern cinema audience. If they take this approach for the film it should be great. SO far i love everything about, the director, the cast, Steven Spielberg producing, the thinking going behind it and the way they’re going about the robots, but im just not sure on the plot itself, but lets see what they do with it. The script must be good if they have such people working on it. Lets hope.